While looking up stuff on banglore’s history, I bumped into a nice tidbit on Mr. Lavelle who got the rights to mine gold in Kolar. This link is a book written in 1898 by ROBERT H. ELLIOT. Makes for an amazing reading. This is a blog from the past !
Also, a nice post about the names of roads in Bangalore from By bglr_usha
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1. Lavelle Road was named after Michael Lavelle, an Irish soldier who made his money in the Kolar Gold Fields.
2. Langford Town/Road was named after Col.Pierce Leslie Langford whose residence was located on that road once.
3. Mayo Hall is supposed to remind you of Richard South Bourke, the then Viceroy, who was the Earl of Mayo.
4. Meanee avenue road gets its name after the battle of Meeanee (Miani) where Charles Napier defeated a Baluchi army (1843)
5. The house of the British resident of Mysore was located on Residency Road – it is currently the residence of the Chief General manager of The S.B.I.
6. The names given to the roads in the Cantonment were according to the military arrangement and campus. Thus, there was Artillery Rd., Brigade Rd., Infantry Rd., Cavalry Rd., etc. The South Parade (presently Mahatma Gandhi Road) was to the south of the Parade Ground. St.Mark’s Road gets its name from the St.Mark’s Cathedral.
7. Kumara Park takes its name after the residence of Dewan Seshadri Iyer which he called Kumara Krupa after his family deity.
8. Austin Town is now Kittel nagar after Ferdinand Kittel who compiled the first Kannada dictionary and Thomas Town is B.I.Rice nagar after the archaeologist.
9. Ali Asker was the grand father of Dewan Mirza Ismail who imported horses from iran – remember Ali Asker Road?
10.Jayanagar came into existence in 1948 and has been named after Maharajah Jayachamrajendra Wodeyar.
11.Tata Silk farm gets its name from the silk business that flourished in that area from 1896.
12.Did you know that the shopping area around South Parade ground (Now M.G.Road) was once called Blackpally? (after the Black death in 1898-99)
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Vishwa Kiran Photography 